> 3. Trailer crew changeovers. This is the hardest part. At the Boondoggle,
this
> all ran without a hitch, UNTIL, and this surprised me, the "experienced"
> people came to work.
during my work group in the trailer mr Fap Vo of OSP was called in to work
as scorer just seconds before the first car, and with NO previous trailer
experience.
he did an excellent job, and was actually easier and faster to work with
than anyone else i can remember (usually with lots of experience).
congrats and thanks,
-james c
"True Street" forum http://thevenom.net/forum/
OSP - Obvious Sliding Permitted
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kelly, Katie" <kkelly@spss.com>
To: <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, March 04, 2002 11:41 AM
Subject: Advice from a Boondoggle Survivor
> Yesterday's event ran fantastically. Good job Ed and Barry! You've put the
> Boondoggle to shame.
>
> I have some observations and tips, as a many time Boondoggle chair, that
might
> help upcoming chairs handle the huge populations. These are only
suggestions,
> but I couldn't even follow them exactly, because each motorhome crew likes
to
> do things a little bit differently. And remember, the Boondoggle is called
> that for a reason, so please, consider the source, and that these are only
> SUGGESTIONS.
>
> First, remember the goal of "on-the-fly." The goal is to keep the cars
cycling
> through, so there is very minimal lag time between run groups, if any at
all.
> What I'm about to describe should help.
>
> 1. Card pick-up and sorting. Do this about the time the current group
starts
> their third runs. How do you do this? I don't know. Either do it yourself,
or
> better yet, get someone else to do it. It's always better to get other
people
> to do stuff, so you can be available to make decisions. That is YOUR JOB.
All
> you do is make decisions. So, make the decision to get the cards collected
and
> sorted early. You will soon see why this is so crucial.
>
> 2. Course worker change-overs (our biggest strength, in my opinion).
Either
> mid-way, or about the time the current group starts their third runs,
start
> getting people checked off and relieving people out on the course. Those
> working in the 4th and 8th run groups are going to have to work a little
bit
> longer than everyone else, but we all rotate work/run groups, so it all
evens
> out anyway.
>
> 3. Trailer crew changeovers. This is the hardest part. At the Boondoggle,
this
> all ran without a hitch, UNTIL, and this surprised me, the "experienced"
> people came to work. I think this is because they all know what to do, and
are
> resentful of anyone telling them how to do things, which I understand
because
> I am absolutely the same way. Unfortunately, though, that's when we ran
into
> our first stall between groups. So, I'll describe to you my ideal, and you
can
> take this or leave it, but when this strategy was followed, we had NO LAG
time
> between run groups, which was cool.
>
> Change people over one-at-a-time, BEFORE the end of the previous group.
You
> don't have to change everyone over all at once. So, you might, for
example,
> change the announcer first. That's the easier one. One guys stops talking,
and
> another guy starts. Easy. When all that's under control, and you can see
all
> is still running smoothly, change the next position, like the scorer, for
> example. When that's under control, change the card sorter. That's an
example,
> you don't have to follow that order (or even this advice), but again, the
key
> is to do things slowly and calmly.
>
> Research has shown that the survival of a species is dependent upon that
> species' ability to adapt to CHANGE. Intelligence plays an insignificant
part.
> We need to accept that there although we divide up everyone into run
groups,
> there is no real division between the end of one and the beginning of
another.
> It requires flexability and a willingness to "think outside of the box"
(I've
> always wanted to say that). It means that you might have some straggling
cars
> from one group and then the beginning of the next group all lined up at
the
> start. Some people find this shocking, against the status quo, and
terrible,
> BUT again, this is why it is SO important to have the cards picked up and
> sorted EARLY, and the card sorter needs to be aware of this.
>
> Obviously, you don't want to send cars out if the motorhome isn't prepared
for
> it. That could create a DISASTER (which happened at a Boondoggle, hence
its
> name). On the other hand, I found, when we did things early and slowly,
that
> we ran into very little lag time. People are more than willing to do the
job.
> All you have to do is ask.
>
> Cheers,
> Katie K.
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